EdTech Avenue

I make a video each year to show at our Grand Gala for Blessed Trinity which is now a promotional tool for our school.  This year’s video was something special and therefore has been used in-house for different promotional events.  I hesitated posting the video on our website due to copyrighted music I used for the background, but now I really want to do it, so I’ve started the process to get permission.  I wouldn’t say the process has been difficult, but it has certainly been time-consuming.  I thought if others were heading in the same direction, a compilation of resources might be nice, so here it is!

Background Information About Copyright:

Two university websites, Vassar and University of Texas, were helpful in explaining in plain English what I might need.  The UT site has some other helpful resources in their Crash Course for Copyright as well.  Copyright Kids also had some very clear explanations.  A post at the Films for Learning Community cemented for me that I would need a license by its direct statement about using a track behind video for promotional purposes.  The Steve Gordon Law website explains quite clearly the difference between a synch license and a mechanical license, topics that helped me greatly later in my search.

After reading up on the rules, I realized I would need to find the copyright owner(s) and ask permission and probably pay for a license to use their work as part of my video.  I was still unsure, however, about what kind of license(s) I would need and who in the world to contact!

Finding the Owner(s):

Many of the sites I found pointed me to three places to look for the publisher or owner of the copyright for what I wanted to use.  I began with those: BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.),  ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers), and SESAC.  The BMI, ASCAP and SESAC search tools were easy to use.  There is also a search at the United States Copyright Office website, but that was less helpful with the information I had (a popular song title found many results).

There also seem to be companies out there whose sole business is to manage licenses and permissions for a copyright owner.  At least that’s how I interpret it – one example I found was ICG (Integrated Copyright Group).  There’s a good search tool there too.  When I went to the website for the copyright shown on the album for the music I was using, it had contact information for ICG under “Mechanical Licenses Contact Information,” so I started there.  The reply from that person stated that he didn’t think they represented that song, so he couldn’t help.  But he led me again to the three “Public Rights Organizations” listed above.  He said that each music publisher is represented by one of those three PROs, so when searching, one should have the contact information for the publisher or licensing agent.

The ASCAP ACE search brought me to the publisher/administrator of the song’s copyright.  I drafted a letter to the person listed there (there wasn’t a website or email, darn it!) explaining what it was I was seeking in hopes someone could help me get started in the right direction.  Someone there responded via email clearly stating what I would need for my purposes and how to obtain the part they administer.  Here’s where it gets tricky…  The publisher of the song itself is someone different from the owner of the copyright of the recording I want to use.  So I need to obtain licensing from both parties.  For licensing the song, I need a mechanical license granted by the songwriter, who in this case is represented by someone else.  This allows me to use the video on our website for one year and make a promotional DVD.  For licensing the recording, I need a recording license.  For that, I had to find the owner of the recording copyright.  I found a couple email addresses on the website for the recording company, so I sent them the details and asked for help.  They came back with very helpful information as well.  They offered two types of licenses – a master license would allow me to make unlimited copies of the DVD and sell them, and a demo license allows me to make up to 75 copies not to be sold.  Both include use on our website.  Since I only want to make a few copies of the DVD which will not be sold, I will get a mechanical license from the publisher of the song and a demo license from the publisher of the recordings.

Results:

Both of these licenses were surprisingly less expensive than I expected and can be obtained quite simply now that I have the information I need.  I’m in the process now and glad to have gone through it to do things the right way.  Now that I’ve done it once, I’m not nearly as hesitant to do the same in the future when the video changes, which I know it will…